Not Sure Where to Start

Everyone on here is right on about the doctors not giving you a bunch of help. They always want to just push the medications. My son developed asthma at the age of 4. He had an asthma attack once a month, and coughing every night in between, that whole winter. The dr. just wanted to give him anything and everything medicine wise. I did lots of research and put him on Carlson's liquid fish oil. 2 teaspoons a day. I buy the lemon flavor. He is symptom free. No more coughing, no more wheezing, He is a normal boy again, and is getting smarter. The fish oil is an anti-inflammatory. It takes inflammation out of the body. In his case out of his lungs and airways. He doesn't take any more breathing treatments. The benefits of fish oil are astounding. Get the book, The Omega Zone, miracle of high dose fish oil. You might want to take him to an allergist just to have him tested to see what he is allergic to. My son happened to be allergic to nothing. But it was nice to know. Good luck.

I personally have been diagnosed with asthma... probably 3 years ago. I cut out milk and most dairy and found that my asthma was much more easily controlled. I haven't taken an inhaler in years. You could always try cutting out dairy/milk (from EVERYTHING).. and see what happens.. I believe I've heard it takes at least a month to get it out of your system. Have you considered looking into additives (MSG, high fructose corn syrup) as also triggers. My asthma/allergies also got much much better without those things. If I have them now I can tell a difference in my mood and overall health.

Trader Joe's is a good place to go to buy good tasting foods without those things at a decent price.

I found that my allergist never mentioned those types of lifestyle changes, they just suggested meds and weekly shots which I for a bit without seeing a difference.

If your desire to breast-feed until your child reaches 1-yr, then perhaps you should consider pumping and bottle-feeding the breast-milk. I had to do this when I returned to work (and only breast-feed in the middle of the night because it was more convenient for me). The issue for me was the quality and benefits of breast-feeding, which were achieved by pumping and breast-feeding by bottle. Just a suggestion.

Hi S.,

It is pretty clear your son has an allergy, to what, is the big question. I think the thing to look for is something at his school, as that is when the symptoms started. Asthma isn't just an allergic reaction, so try to think of the 2 as separate, he has allergies, and he has asthma. You have to put on your investigator's cap to see what the problem is, I do suggest an allergist also. If you want to cut out milk, it isn't that hard once you get used to it, you also have to look for the ingredient casein (nilk protein) on ingredient listings. There are a ton of substitutes for milk, such as nut milks, soy milks, and in almsot every recipe you can substitute one of those, or margarine for butter. Cheese is harder to sub, many don't like the flavor of fake cheeses, and it can be xpensive. Read all of the labels, and stick to non-processed foods at first, the fewer ingredients in his food the easier it is to figure out the culprit.You have to keep good tabs on his calcium intake to make sure he gets enough. I think you should go to is school, and observe to see what he is doing, eating, touching, when his symptoms arise. Good luck!

S.,
Have you thought about taking him to a chiropractor. It could be just an adjustment that he needs. I do not know how you feel about that type of doctor but they have helped me.

Before we had my son tested for allergies, I came across something called the childhood allergy march. While we were able to catch my son's allergies, I saw that it did lead up to asthma. I brought it up to his peds. doctor, who blew me off. Thankfully, with my insurance, we can go straight to a specialist without a referral. They found out he was allergic to wheat, dairy and eggs. I was very overwhelmed at first, with how to feed him. It's been a few months now. There is so much out there now, to replace those. I spend a lot of time at the Better Health Food store, but they even have options in regular grocery stores now. Best of luck! Please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do to help.

Hello S., I know this is late, but thought I could help. All three of my children had asthma, but my youngest was cronically ill with it. If you son's asthma is due to milk, that will be an easy fix, but could develop other allergies. My son's was inviromental, so much harder to avoid his triggers. Go to a pediatric allergist, it was the best decision I ever made. Feel free to keep in touch if you want. I have lots of knowledge, experience, and compasion. Been there, done that, and it isn't a fun thing to go through. Good luck.

Please have the doctor run a test to check for Cystic Fibrosis. It took a year to get a diagnosis with my son with many of the same symptoms. He does also have food allergies and asthma. You said his stool is mushy, does it have a really foul odor? Don't be afraid to push for some answers.

Prayers are with you for help in figuring it out.

I actually have asthma since childhood. I am also lactose intolerant, and I have eczema. All of these things are related. Cut out dairy and see if his condition improves. Try soy milk or rice mile instead. Good luck! :)

Hi S.---You have a lot of really great advice from the other moms. I would agree that milk could be a very big problem. You can learn why milk may not be the health food that many would have us believe at www.strongbones.org.

Do be firm in your gut instincts when you go see your doctors. Unfortunately, they are not trained to help the body stay well, or to heal itself. They generally don't take nutrition classes and much of what they know about 'treatment' comes from pharmaceutical companies. Now, that's not to say that our doctors and drugs are not important, because they can be lifesavers. But usually drugs just deal with symptoms, they don't address the underlying cause of a health problem.

I am taking classes to learn more about wellness. I have been learning A LOT about how our diet affects our health and our risk of degenerative disease. Humans are meant to eat a plant based diet, meaning mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Use animal products sparingly in the diet. Eating mostly fruits and veggies should help to strengthen and balance your son's immune system (as it will for everyone in your house). In fact, it is suggested that we eat 9 to 13 servings each and every day. I have a great chart I can send you for suggested servings for kids in different age brackets, so feel free to contact me for that.

But, if you find it difficult to get enough fruits and veggies every day, I would suggest you look at a great whole food supplement called Juice Plus+. It is 17 different fruits, veggies and the bran of 2 grains, that has been juiced and then dehydrated. The juice powders are then put into capsule, chewable or gummie form. The best thing is that there are several published original studies that show JP+ actually strengthens and balances the immune system. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. There is no obligation for any of the information we share. I just love to help people become more healthy, if that's what they choose. I look forward to talking to you. In health, D.
###-###-#### www.dianeshealthed.com

Hi S.!
I had the same thing with my daughter(who is now 18) but for YEARS she was soo sick! She started to miss 2 weeks at a time(during months of Oct-april) of school-finally she REFUSED to drink milk at the age of 9. I started thinking-ok maybe it is the milk?! Sure enough-she never really got sick after that! She can eat cottage cheese, cheese and yogurt-just not milk-every now and the she will have a bowl of cereal or a glass of milk and she will get this annoying cough. But she is healthy now! Has been for 9 yrs.!
Good luck!

It could be an allergy to milk or wheat or any number of things. So many kids have this and are diagnosed with asthma. Don't take an off the cuff diagnosis from a reguler GP. I would go to www.ahccenter.com. This is a group of chiropractors and nutritionists who can find the issue and help the body heal naturally. Read the testimonials. Good luck!

HI S.
My daughter started getting hives out of no where. We did allergy testing, and didn't she didn't have results for anything. I can tell were both sensitive to wheat, it gives her gas. But she's not allergic per the results. So you can be sensitive to something and not test + for it. The Dr said
benadryl is basically a sedative so you may want to find something non drowsy to have on hand.

I'd slowly remove things from his diet to see if it clears up. And do RAST blood tests to ck as well.

It took me a while to figure out my body doesn't like wheat, and it's amazing how great I feel now. I'd just gotten used to it and didn't realize how used to feeling that way I'd gotten.

Good luck! A. H